Gauteng ANC’s approval rating drops to 23%, could lose province

It’s not looking great for the ANC under Zuma right now, with reports of dwindling support coming in left and right.

According to Afrobarometer, president Zuma’s approval rating has plummeted from 64% in 2011 to 36% in 2015, and the ANC’s membership under Zuma has dwindled to just over 789 000 people. The party itself admitted to its own decline at this year’s NGC; yet nothing is being done to address the issues.

“The ANC’s leadership status and role are under threat; and other political forces seek to exploit its weaknesses to dislodge it,” an internal document circulated at the NGC reads.

Now, while we know that the Western Cape is where the ANC barely enjoys any support – relatively speaking –, it’s Gauteng that’s seen the biggest decline in ruling party support. Zuma’s approval rating in SA’s most economically powerful province is sitting in joint last place at 23%.

Afrobarometer

Ok, so we should draw a distinction between support for the ANC as a party and for Zuma; but Zuma’s ratings, as you can see, are damaging the overall popularity of the ANC as a whole.

BusinessTech reports that under Zuma and his senior officials, support for the ANC from its own supporters has also slipped, to just 53% for the president, 54% for his MPs and 44% for the ANC’s local council.

Afrobarometer

The ANC has always been a party focussed primarily on young people and, in fact, led into the struggle by a young Nelson Mandela, Joe Slovo, Chris Hani, Govan Mbeki and Walter Sisulu. These days, however, ANC supporters are stuck with a panel of old socialists interested in nothing more than feathering their own nests and consolidating their own power by undermining the Freedom Charter and the South African constitution.

Approval for the party has particularly slipped among the youth, with only 34% of young South Africans supporting Zuma.